UN expert implores Myanmar’s Suu Kyi: “open your eyes"

GENEVA (17 September 2019) – A UN human rights expert has
implored Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi to
‘feel with her heart before it is too late’, saying that
even if refugees wished to return they have little to go
back to.

Yanghee Lee, the Special Rapporteur on the
situation of human rights in Myanmar, told the Human Rights
Council the situation in Myanmar was of extreme concern, and
was not what she and others had hoped to see nearly four
years after the election of the National League for
Democracy.

“I would like to ask the State
Counsellor if the Myanmar that exists today is what she had
truly aspired to bring about throughout the decades of her
relentless fight for a free and democratic Myanmar? I
implore you Madame State Counsellor to open your eyes,
listen, feel with your heart, and please use your moral
authority, before it is too late.”

Despite
international condemnation, Lee said Myanmar had done
nothing to dismantle the system of violence and persecution
against Rohingya, and that the Rohingya who remain in
Rakhine live in the same dire circumstances that they did
prior to the events of August 2017.

“They are
denied citizenship and recognition, face regular violence
(including in the context of the ongoing conflict between
the Arakan Army and the Tatmadaw), are unable to move freely
and have little access to food, healthcare, education,
livelihoods and services,” she said.

“Myanmar
claims to have done what is necessary for the repatriation
to be successful, and continues to blame Bangladesh for any
delay,” she said. “However, information I have leads me
to believe that the contrary is true.”

Lee noted
that satellite imagery showed the development of 34 camps,
but said their precise purpose was unclear. She said they
may be intended to detain the remaining Rohingya population
and those who decide to return.

She said satellite
imagery shows the extent of development in northern Rakhine,
including six military bases that had been built on the site
of destroyed Rohingya villages. Of the 392 villages that
were destroyed, there has been no attempt to reconstruct 320
of them, with 40 percent of villages having been completely
razed to the ground. “Some of that demolition occurred in
2018 and some even in 2019, and all of this is completely
antithetical to the claim that Myanmar is ready to receive
the refugees. I further note that under Myanmar’s land
laws, burned land reverts to Government ownership. In this
situation, even if the refugees wished to return to Myanmar,
what have they got to go back to?”

Lee added:
“My belief is unwavering that accountability is necessary
for the country as a whole, as well as being key to
successful repatriation: it will bring about an end to the
military’s violence against ethnic minorities in Myanmar
and the possibility that the Rohingya could live safely in
Rakhine.”

The Special Rapporteur also expressed
concern about conflict between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan
Army, and accusations of indiscriminate use of heavy
artillery fire, gunfire and landmines in civilian areas and
civilians were killed as a result.

She said that in
August the conflict in northern Shan worsened after
coordinated attacks by the Myanmar National Democratic
Alliance Army, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army and the
Arakan Army, known as the Three Brotherly Alliance. The
attacks sparked intense fighting between the Tatmadaw and
the ethnic armed organisations across inhabited areas and
along main roads in northern Shan.

“Weeks of
fighting were waged with disregard for the safety, welfare
and rights of civilians.” Targeted and indiscriminate use
of heavy artillery fire as well as landmines reportedly
caused at least 17 civilian deaths and temporarily displaced
an estimated 8,000 people in northern Shan, 1,600 of them
remain displaced now.

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